Those Who Wish Me Dead

by Michael Koryta

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

I will admit that I knew nothing about this author going into this book. I selected to review this book based pretty much on the narrator, Robert Petkoff, who I love and list in my top five favorite narrators. I read the synopsis and thought it sounded interesting. Not knowing what I was getting into, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.

We have Jace, a thirteen year old boy, who witness to a murder while outside. His parents chose to send him to a wilderness survival camp for troubled boys under a false identity instead of witness protection. The men who are after him are good, very good. They've never left anyone alive before and they don't plan to start with this boy.

Ethan agrees to take the boy at the request of a former student, who was trying to protect the boy and felt she couldn't. She said that the men after him were too good. She wants him off the grid and away from cell phones, cameras, etc. Ethan couldn't say no, knowing that he might be signing the boy's death warrant.

The hitmen, Jack and Patrick are brothers and are a creepy pair. When they talk to their victims, they do it by talking back and forth to each other instead of talking to the victim. It is chilling to listen to. They are true sociopaths and feel nothing when they kill and tortureto get the information they need.

There are some things that are not completely believable, but for the most part, I thought the story was real enough. The kid was smart, too smart, I don't think so, but maybe. My biggest thing is you don't take a person who has severe burns out of a hospital and put them on horseback in the mountains the next day. Also, the horse hasn't been ridden in months because of a fractured leg. You are not going to get on it and go up into the mountains, with not just one, but two riders.

Overall, I say that the story was extremely suspenseful and I really wanted to make time to listen. Yes, this was a book where I was finding things to clean so I could keep listening. I would say that the narration helped with the story some too. I don't know if I would've liked it as much if I had read versus listening to it.

Narration
Did mention that Petkoff is one of my top five favorite narrators ever? This is the first story I've listened to where he was narrating something besides Kresley's Cole Immortals After Dark series. At first, I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing. Petkoff is great with accents and there are no accents in this story. Then we get to the two hitmen. He really brought their sociopathy to life. The way he had these two talking to each other gave me goosebumps. Once again, he does a great job with women's voices. You could feel the fear that some of the characters felt throughout the story. Once again, Petkoff nails it. Still one of my top five favorite narrators.

I like to thank Hachette Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.